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[Page H2944]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1030
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS CANNOT BE SOLVED BY A WALL ALONE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Green) for 5 minutes.
Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise. I rise with love
of country in mind and liberty and justice for all in heart.
I rise to remind us of the words of the great French intellectual,
Voltaire, who reminded us that those who can make us believe
absurdities can cause us to commit atrocities.
Mr. Speaker, I have been to the border. I have seen the security
people who are there, the Border Patrol officers. They are victims, Mr.
Speaker, victims of policies that, unfortunately, do not respect the
humanity of many people. I have seen the children stacked in cages. I
have seen the parents grieving.
Mr. Speaker, I know why people are fleeing the countries south of the
border. They are doing so because they are, literally, many of them,
running for their lives. They are seeking safe harbor in the United
States of America because we have extended an informal invitation by
and through our Statue of Liberty.
We have, with our words and our deeds, said to the world that we are
people who you can trust and who you can depend on.
Mr. Speaker, I rise with liberty and justice for all in mind because
those who would want us to believe that babies who are coming here are
an invading army, if you will, they are wrong. Those babies are coming
because their mothers believe that they can find safety in our country.
Mr. Speaker, would anybody deny that a mother who would send her
child to this country or some distant place, possibly understanding
that the child could be harmed along the way, can anybody deny that
this is being done because that mother has such great love for that
child that she wants her child to have the opportunity to have life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
Can anybody deny that these parents who come, traversing harm's way,
are doing so because they are trying to leave a circumstance that has
greater harm?
Mr. Speaker, I rise with the understanding that Voltaire was right.
It is an absurdity to believe that women and children and people who
are fleeing harm's way are invaders.
I also would remind us of other words of Voltaire. He also reminded
us that, ``It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.''
I would not utilize the word ``fools,'' but I will say that it is
difficult to free people from chains that they revere. Those who want
to separate us from the rest of the world, especially the world of
color, they revere these chains that bind and bond them to this notion.
I think it is going to be difficult to separate them, but not
impossible.
I believe that people of goodwill can always win and that we of
goodwill must continue to preach the message and gospel of liberty and
justice for all.
I believe that we can make a difference in the lives of people who we
will never meet and greet. Those persons who are trying to get here
will probably never vote for me. There is no reason for me to do this
other than I believe in my heart that an injustice is being perpetrated
at the border.
Mr. Speaker, it is my belief that this problem at the border requires
greater scrutiny and greater attention from the American people and
from those of us who represent them. It is my belief that if we want to
do something about this problem, we have to acknowledge that it is a
humanitarian crisis that we are dealing with and that the humanitarian
crisis cannot be solved with a wall alone.
We cannot conclude that, if we leave the world alone, it will leave
us alone. We are a part of this great world of humanity. There is but
one race and that is the human race. We must do our part to protect all
within the human race, especially our neighbors to the south.
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